12 March 2018

12/03/2018 - Teaching | Back | Regaining Hooks

To maintain hooks, you want to make sure you're driving your heels in firmly into their legs. If you're lazy with those hooks, then your training partner will be able to simply swivel round into your guard. If you instead engage your hooks by digging the heels in, when they try to turn you will move with them.

In the context of retaking the back, the time to use the Andre Galvao technical mount back take is is before they get their shoulders to the mat. They've managed to clear one of your hooks and started bringing their hips over. Before they can get their shoulders to the mat, press your chest into their shoulder and roll them onto their side, in the direction they were escaping. You'll probably need to balance on your shoulder and head to get into the right position.

As they have cleared one of your legs, you should be able to then slide that knee behind their head (you might need to post on an arm, but see if you can do it without releasing your seatbelt grip). Sit back and roll them over your knee, then re-establish your second hook (note that in sparring, this will almost certainly be blocked). You can keep doing that from side to side as a drill.

To go from technical mount to the back, the motion is the same, but you are in a more stable starting position. Simply drop back from technical mount, rolling them over the knee you have near your head. The foot you had by their hip becomes your first hook, so you just need to bring the second hook over. That can be easier said than done, which is why we'll be discussing some methods on getting that second hook into play as part of a future lesson.

When they are blocking your second hook, cross your free foot over your hooking foot. At first that might seem counter-intuitive, because crossing your feet on the back normally puts you at risk of a foot lock. However, if you only have one hook and cross your feet, they can't properly apply pressure against your ankle. Making sure you are aligned with the bottom of their spin, you can then thrust your hips forwards into them and pull back with your seat belt grip.

The result should be that your partner is bent around and stretched out, so that they can no longer connect their knee and elbow to block your foot. That's your chance to quickly insert your second hook, before they can recover their defensive position. When doing the hip extension, don't forget to keep control of their lower leg with your first hook. Otherwise they can just pop over and escape.

The most intuitive option when you lose your hooks is to switch to mount. This option is mainly for when you are starting to lose the back and they manage to get their shoulders to the mat. At this point, you don't really have the back position any more, but there is an easy switch to mount. For that to remain viable, you need to drift your far heel over to their far hip, locking that in place. Use that as an anchor to pull yourself over into mount. You may also need to pull your elbow free, as that can potentially get stuck under their head (depending on your positioning before you started to lose the back).

If you lose both hooks, as long as you maintain your seat belt you're still in control. Staying low, walking your feet around, until you are belly down, your legs pointing out directly opposite to their legs so that your bodies are in line. Walk your knees towards them, which should push them into an upright sitting position. From there, bring your hook over, or you could step on their thigh if necessary. You can then retake the back.

If they manage to dislodge your first attempt, you can just keep doing that walk around. However, you need to have the seatbelt: this demonstrates why having that seatbelt grip is more important than having the hooks. It is much harder to re-establish your seat belt if they dislodge your arms.

Teaching Notes: Being careful of the knee, making sure your knee is close in to them. Do I need the third part I taught? I think it fits, but I might do it in a different order next time. I started off with mount recovery today, but I reckon that makes more sense to do second. That's where you are starting to lose the back, so second would be better. Also worth mentioning on the walk back around one that you don't want to pull them back directly over their ankles. That's risky, in terms of injury to them.

So, change order, along with knee up high and cutting it under. Also, lots of videos to move around in this post, so I'll check those after publishing. ;)

[thanks Georgette!]Disclaimer:
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